Conflict of interest
by Hewasneverhere
Summary: It has been two months since his last assignment, but the summer holidays have just started and a new situation occurs, an old enemy appears much stronger than ever and Cherub is to be sent to investigate. Due to the nature of the case, MI6 is involved, But a new complication occurs when a global private security corporation gets dragged into the mix.
1. The Case

Got the idea for quite a while but never got around doing it.

Useful criticism is encouraged and please be kind this is my first Fanfic

PS: Many references to many different things will be mentioned cos me. :P

There will be most likely a lot of tenses issues that is because I am overhauling a huge portion of the story and I am juggling them around. They will be fixed ASAP.

It's been two months since MI6 last called, everything seemed like it has died down, the spy life seemed to be finally over. Alex could finally concentrate on his school work. It's now the summer holidays and Alex intended to spend the time resting and catching up on the work he missed, but it was not to be when the dreaded phone rang. Alex ignored it, but the answering machine kicked in.

"This is Janice from Royal and General speaking, Your financial Analyst Mrs Jones is requesting a meeting at 11 pm sharp today." the calm but dreaded voice of the operator on the other end clicked off.

Alex could only sigh as he knew what it meant, a new assignment. He had already resigned to his fate, a pawn to MI6, there was no point in resisting as it would only mean having a group of heavily armed personal blowing through his doors and windows, the last time that happened was bad enough. He did not need a repeat of it again.

Tom sleepily walked down the stairs. "Who was that?" he asked. Tom moved in with Alex 2 months ago after he had just returned from a short mission. His parents were too busy arguing with one another or avoid each other to notice him. Alex had become his pseudo older brother taking care of him ever since he left home after another one of their parent's drunken brawl.

"The bank. If I don't contact you or come back within the year. Everything I own is yours." Alex replied cynically.

Getting into his car, although he was underage, but when did that stop MI6? He has been issued a driver's license and ID that showed that he was 21, at least he was now getting paid, with extra on the top in order to keep him quiet, all tax-free. It was enough for him to buy an Aston Martin DB9 and leave plenty in an offshore account.

The car sped through traffic, its government-issued plates ensured he won't be pulled over. Despite the horrendous London traffic, he still made it with sufficient time to spare for him to go to a nearby cafe and have a cup of chamomile tea to calm himself before the inevitable happens.

With 10 minutes left to spare, Alex left and drove into the building's underground carpark. His experience with using the front entrance wasn't pleasant and he would like to avoid a similar incident. The suited security guard that stood guard at the lift lobby gave a slight nod in greeting as Alex walked into the Staff the only elevator. Swiping the key card and punching in the floor level on the fingerprint sensitive buttons gave Alex access after a short moment as it verified his identity.

It only took less than a few seconds before the lift rumbled to a halt. It's doors opening revealing rows and rows of small cubicles, to any normal outsider it just looked like any other usual office or bank. Drab and grey were the words that would first come to mind. Taking a deep breath as he steeled himself as he walked past the cubicles to the wooden panelled walls at the end of the room a single screen on the side writing "Department Head's office".

Alex did not bother knocking as he pushed the set of thick mahogany double doors open. Mrs Jones had been expecting Alex of course as soon as he pulled up in the carpark and when his lift arrived. A file had been placed in front of her facing Alex, gesturing to him to take a seat.

"Now as you know, we only call you in when we have no other choice…" she began to explain, only to be cut off by an increasingly irritated Alex.

"Cut the crap Tulips and get to the point. We both know you had other options, just mine was the most efficient."

Jones gave a small nod as she cleared her throat. "Ahem. As I was saying we need your help. MI5 has something we need and we agreed to work together on a particularly sensitive case in Singapore. The rest of details are in the file before you. It seemed that MI5 themselves have their own child spies…"

"I know, Cherub. I heard about them." Alex spat interrupting the head of MI6 a second time which is unprecedented in the history of British intelligence but a norm to Jones when she was with Alex.

Jones raised an eyebrow, in a fashion just like Blunt, "Just how much do you know about them? And for how long?"

"Enough. I know they were formed during WWII and operate independently under MI5. I know they are treated much better than you lot have, and I know they actually have a choice in accepting a mission and an ethics committee to decide on which cases are deemed 'Safe' to go and rejected missions most of the time go to me. I have known all of this for at least 7 months during the mission in the Canary Islands. " Alex replied, his dark brown eyes drilling right into Jone's. The hidden implications could be sensed from the tone alone.

"I see… I will not ask where you got the information from but anyway… back to the case at hand. We need you to join up with several members of cherub for an operation. You and another operative will be tasked with primarily protecting Cherub operatives as they work."

"Who is the target this time?" Alex asked as he flipped the file open.

"Kalden Young. Son of Philip Young the CEO of the Atlas International Group, a Defense company based in Singapore." Jones calmly explained. Alex's eyes flashed with recognition when he saw the picture attached to the file.

"What is so significant about it?" Alex pushing Jones for an answer. As he flipped through the case notes.

"You might have guessed this is not primarily about Kalden, it's his father, in-case you haven't heard he is the 27th richest man alive and of course he s adored by many people. His Company Atlas International Invests billions in many countries the UK included; he gives millions to charities.

However, it seemed like not everything he does is so clear-cut or noble. Atlas International is a conglomerate of many different industries, but at its core, they are a private defence company producing, designing and selling weapons of all sorts. Recently we uncovered shipments, huge shipments of weapons bound for all sorts of people at the port in Liverpool and Heathrow airport thanks to a tip-off from someone in Atlas. The manifest recovered Included destinations to a few nasty regimes in central Europe and Africa. Most of them are weapons designed by other companies but produced under licence, the serial numbers printed also lead back to Atlas. To put it simply, he might be the world's biggest Arms dealer in the world. Atlas denies them of course and the raid does not contain enough evidence to build a solid case on them."

Jones paused for a moment to let Alex digest the information as he read and listened to her at the same time. He showed no emotion, after being in this line of work for so long hardly anything could surprise him nowadays.

"To give you a bit of context, his company has been at the heart of the international arms trade ever since the deregulation of the armaments market in the early 2000s. The Singaporean government even owns a large stake in the company as part of its sovereign wealth fund and they are making a killing off it. They will not give up Philip Young or his company easily. Any evidence of Atlas involvement have been carefully destroyed and protection from the local government makes him one of the toughest man to catch. Not to mention how cosy he is with other world's governments especially the US and ours. He hardly travels as well, even if he does his travels these few years have been restricted solely to the Asian region, primarily Vietnam and the two China's the ROC and the PRC.

None of those governments is far from friendly with us, to give Phillip Young up would take a miracle of impossible proportions. Every single operative we have sent came back either unable to get close and gain any useful information the last one we sent came back in a package wrapped in pink ribbons on 10th downing street. It is clear they have insider knowledge of our operations. They will be expecting an adult which is why we need your expertise, Alex." Jones almost sounded like she was begging, popping in another peppermint. "That last incident did not go well with the prime minister and he is demanding we do something about it."

"It's not like I have a choice in this anyway, what do you want me to do about it?" Alex sighed. His face remaining emotionless.

"Cherub will be trying to befriend Phillip's Sons, you will be providing protection as well investigating Atlas International for anything that could be of use to us. You will be heading to the Campus tomorrow Smithers will give you what you need. In the meantime, I would suggest you get yourself informed." Sliding an additional manila folder to Alex with the same rubber TOP SECRET stamp on it. Signifying the brief was over.

Alex scowled as he snatched the folder up and gave one quick glare at Jones as she went back to her paperwork as if nothing had happened as if she did not send him to meet certain death. One could wonder how she even slept at night.

The devil's room closed behind him and his fate sealed, he felt constricted by the feeling, it was the same feeling he always felt when he gets assigned to missions like this.

At first glance, the floor was almost a carbon copy of the floor above. The same cubicles and offices, the only change being a break room of sorts just left of the lift lobby.

Smither's private office was on the right, one of the largest in the whole building and for good reason too. At first glance, the exterior looked like any other but inside it was much, much larger. Inside the thick wooden panelling and wooden door was not an office like Jones but an entire workshop. A chemistry set placed prominently on the central table, always bubbling with all sorts of liquids and chemicals. Computers and papers strewn all over the place, contain all sorts of jargon even Alex could understand. Despite the size, Smithers had a second floor below used for his own crazy testing purposes connected via a system of secret stairs and a lift that is connected all the way to the basement where the rest of the Q department worked their magic."

Smithers still wearing his traditional 'fat suit' sitting at a white table toying with the new iPhone X.

"You are back I see. I heard you assigned to protective detail for those Cherub fellows. Rare to see Jones assign an agent your calibre for this." Twirling his chair around as he smirked at Alex.

"Beats getting dropped into situations that require me sacrificing part of my life for. If anyone needs a protective detail it's that woman and Blunt. I swear, one day I am going to kill the both of them for real."

"I am sure they already got that eventuality covered." the large man laughed, the chair creaking in sync with the booming voice. "Alright. Enough tittle-tattling, the both of us have work to do. Here is what the head wanted me to give you, with a few extras thrown in of course. I know how you loved the Zit cream and the yo-yo. So here are a few extras and your new phone, just finished with last minute adjustments." Handing Alex a black duffle bag and the iPhone X he was fiddling with.

"One of my proudest modifications, I call it the iPhone Xpermental Combines the functions of the Nintendo, yoyo and the old iPhone abilities together. I trust that you know how to operate them." Handing over the iPhone, it was covered with a black case a small handle like shape jutted out at one side.

"The apps should make them quite obvious, a Pdf file of the manual is attached, should you need it. Lastly. She finally thinks it's high time you have these beauties."

Smithers smiled placing 3 black pistols, then a compact rifle with a foregrip attached and an ACOG sight, and then a submachine gun with the same attachments.

"Finally. At least now the odds aren't heavily in the other's favour. But this seems excessive even by my standards don't you think?" Alex asked hefting one in his hands. The cold smooth metal was nice to his touch, it was also not very heavy to his surprise.

"I don't know why but she was insistent you carry extra weapons. First of is this. Our standard issue pistol, a USP compact, nothing special." holding it up for Alex to see, "Next is my favourite, the FN 57 with an extended barrel and more importantly an under barrel shotgun, just pop your shell in there and boom. It can fire any type of 12 gauges round lethal or non-lethal, it can launch flares as well if you wish." Holding up a rather long looking pistol and a shotgun shell, its under-barrel shotgun was menacing enough by itself, coupled with the sleek black finish and the gun it made a very intimidating weapon.

"Last of all your backup pistol, a Walther P99, I should mention all the guns here are all custom made to make it much more manageable for you and the pistols require the owner's fingerprints. Here, to program them just put them in their cases and put your finger on the scanner here." holding up a box for the gun with a fingerprint scanner on the side.

"The other two are your harder hitting weapons, an HK416C compact fitted with a foregrip, Acog sight and tension grips should your hand get wet, and an MP5K. I am sure you are already proficient in them.

Here the briefcase to keep all of them safely with the usual safety features and of course 100% invisible to metal detectors. Now, unless you need a new set of bullet-proof outfits I reckon it's best you hurry along. You have a long day ahead of you."

"Thank you, Smithers. Fantastic work as usual. I am sure they would be of great use." Alex giving a small smile as he shook Smithers hand after collecting everything and walked out of the door.

"Just remember to return at least one of them in working condition!" he could hear Smithers shout through the closing door.

Chapter 1 has been sort of overhauled. But I will not be surprised if there are still mistakes so please point them out to me :D


	2. New Assignment

James got up at 7.30 a.m., despite his whole body begging him to stay under the duvet. He put on his running kit and headed to the athletics track as the sun rose over campus. It took him half an hour to run thirteen laps: a distance of five kilometers. Punishment for not doing his history homework He showered, then traded some homework with Shakeel over breakfast. Lessons went from 8.30 until 2.00, with half an hour for lunch. After lessons, there was Karate practice topped off with forty-five minutes' circuit training. More homework came next, it was 6.15 p.m by the time he even managed to put a dent in his weekly backlog of work, this was the only time he could unwind for a moment.

Dinner was a social event with everyone mucking about, CHERUBS of different ages and rank mixing with each other, having a good time. Unfortunately for James, he could not afford to join in the fun as he rushed through his dinner. He was digging through his plate of chicken chop when Kyle plopped down on his seat grinning from ear to ear.

"How's the extra homework coming along?" Kyle chirped as he stole a chip from James's plate.

"Piss off Kyle, can't you see I am still busy? I still have my history essay I have to hand in tomorrow." James growled as he swiped the thieving hand away.

"Aww.. here I am out of the kindness of my heart hear to offer you a way out and you instead want me to piss off? I am hurt James really hurt." Kyle feigning the most adorable/ convincing pained face he could make to James. Which resulted in James knocking back his orange juice in disgust and promptly flipping the bird at him.

"Don't do that again you dick," James warned as he wiped the juice from his mouth. "Fine. What is the way out you have been mouthing off about?"

"A mission of course." Kyle leaning in closer, which made James flinch for a moment as Kyle's face grew closer. "We got a very big case coming up and we need one more. Ewart Asker and Zara have decided to nominate you for it. If you agree to it of course. The mission briefing is tomorrow and there is a ton of background studying involved, more than your average mission"

"Great. It's not like I don't have enough work already. So much for a way out Kyle." James replied sarcastically.

"Didn't I say already? Mac has agreed to cut out your all lessons and punishments for the day."

"Fantastic!" James almost shouted a little too loudly. "But why? It's not everyday Mac would cut out entire days just for a mission briefing."

"You are barking up the wrong tree dude. I am just the messenger, but from what I heard… an MI6 agent will be accompanying us. To be honest, this whole operation has been very hush hush, even I am not supposed to talk about it to other Cherubs other than the ones shortlisted for the mission."

This unnerved James for a second, Cherub normally was never this secretive, especially to their own members, this mission was turning out to be a whole different ball game before it even started.

"Do you even know what it is about?"

"Heavy weapons. Someone is selling them to people they are not supposed to. That's all I know sorry." Kyle whispered in reply before quickly leaving the dining room.

CLASSIFIED**

MISSION BRIEFING:

FOR JAMES ADAMS and KYLE BLUEMAN,

DO NOT REMOVE FROM ROOM 812

DO NOT COPY OR MAKE NOTES

Illegal arms trade

The illicit arms trading business is some of the largest criminal enterprises in the world. Billions of pounds have exchanged hands over the years and profits are only growing. These weapons in the wrong hands cause misery and suffering to innocent people around the world.

Phillip Young and Atlas International Group

Atlas International Group is a conglomerate of different industries with the defense industry been its key focus. Shipments of weapons connected to Atlas Industries and Knight industries, both subsidiaries for Atlas International in charge of Research and development of new weapons were recovered during a police raid in the port of Liverpool and Heathrow Airport early this month. These weapons were destined to individuals and groups with malicious intent. No proof, however, was found that linked the guns were sold by Atlas to other third-party groups. An investigation by MI5 into Atlas Regional office turned up nothing but a whistleblower within the company Shawn Chao has implicated that Phillip Young, the CEO of Atlas International did indeed sell those weapons. The informant was unfortunately arrested by the Singapore Police force for Drug trafficking and has been sentenced to death before he could reveal any more.

Phillip Young has an estimated net worth of 19.3 Billion pounds and owns many properties around the world especially in his home country Singapore but intelligence suggests he lives in a modest executive flat in the Jurong West area. His two sons, Kalden and Caiden Young attend the local Comprehensive school, while his daughter works as a teacher in a regional Primary school.

He normally works in his office at the Atlas Building at the Marina Bay area and only socializes with family members and friends he has known since boyhood. He is known to travel in with an armored escort and drives a Jaguar XJ (X308).

Important:

Due to the risk of the mission the Ethics committee requires Cherub to work with the Mi6 agent assigned to the same case for protection. Cherub agents are to cooperate with MI6 and not to interfere with their own investigation.

MISSION REQUEST:

Frustrated by the lack of success in effectively gaining intelligence and annoyed by the Singaporean government lack of cooperation, the government asked the intelligence services to find a way of infiltrating KMG at the highest level. MI5, the adult branch of British Intelligence, could see no reason why it would have any more success after attempts by MI6 alone failed as well MI5's own attempts. Cherub was suggested as a method of last resort.

Phillip Young is reportedly a family-centered man. Appropriately placed Cherubs agents may be able to befriend the brothers and gain vital information.

MISSION PLAN:

Husband and wife mission controllers, Ewart and Zara Asker, will move into an apartment on the Jurong estate with their baby son and two CHERUB agents. For the purposes of the mission, the agents will be the adopted children of Zara and Ewart. The family surname will be Abel. To minimize confusion, everyone will use their normal first names.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

Each agent has been selected to befriend one of Phillip's children, as follows

James Adam – Kalden Young

Kyle Blueman – Caiden Young

If the cherubs succeed in making friends, they must attempt to socialize out of school and try to get inside Phillip's home, gathering information wherever possible. Each cherub will be placed in the same class as the child they are supposed to befriend.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE:

Cherub members are to keep an eye out for anything that might link Atlas International and the Weapons shipments captured by the police.

NOTE: This mission have been approved by the CHERUB ethics Committee by a 3:2 VOTE, ON CONDITION THAT ALL AGENTS UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING:

This mission has been classified HIGH RISK. All agents are reminded of their right to refuse to undertake this mission and to withdraw from it at any time. Agents will be at risk of violence and exposure to high powered weapons.

Agents are also reminded that they will be excluded from CHERUB immediately if they willingly use any class A drug.


	3. Well What do we have Here?

**Word of warning. I am not satisfied with this Chapter at all. I will be making serious changes to this. especially the conversations. Please give me some suggestions if you have any to help improve this story.**

 **This Overhaul is still not finished but I think we can call this a sneak peek :P and also to let me know if you like it this way.**

 **Special thx to** Ai Huiyuan for pointing out my mistake on the briefing :P

Doctor Terence McAfferty was not comfortable with this mission. Not one bit at all, he had years of Cherub missions behind him, done a few himself even but none seemed as dangerous as this. Normally they could at least rely on the local police for some form of help or as a way out for Cherub agents. This mission however seemed more like sending agents to an enclosed island surrounded by water and some of the world's most efficient police force in the world coupled with some of the harshest laws one could draft and not to mention they are going against a powerful private military corporation with some of the world's elite soldiers under their wing, terror organisations, street gangs and cults that they have gone against looked like mere peanuts compared with an organisation like Atlas International Group.

He and the Ethics committee had a very lengthy chat about this case and they were all in a gridlock both sides were split between approving or binning the mission. It was only when word came that the Prime minister himself insisted the mission have the go-ahead that it was finally passed but still, it only passed when the committee slipped in the requirement that SIS collaborate with Cherub. In front of him right now was the open file on the agent MI6 is sending over. Attached was a picture and the information. The only problem being he looked no older than 16 and most of it have been covered up with the sinister black tape. Whole paragraphs have been censored and the information not covered up gave nothing away.

This file essentially has been a total sham, filled with nothing and SIS has gone back to their old ways of keeping everything to themselves and nothing away. They might as well have sent over a blank piece of paper as this was pretty much what he had received the agent did not even have a name, the only useful bit of information he had was that he is part of the MI6 Special Operations division the nicknamed the Double 0 division by other agencies for their often secretive work. The agent was only mere hours away and he does not know what to expect. At least it can be rest assured whoever the agent is, he can be trusted to get the job done.

To the two Cherubs seating in the room, however, this looked like their average job. James was feeling quite relaxed after a few minutes of reading, after all that talk about how secret and dangerous the mission is, left James a bit underwhelmed, the conversation the other day as much as he hated to admit, left him sleepless and nervous. Now with the briefing in his hands, this mission looked like a piece of cake. Zara and Ewart are busy tending to Joshua who is now at the age of 2 years old preventing him from causing too much damage.

Zara being the motherly mission controller she is has laid out a small table with a jug of iced tea and cookies among the stacks of books and files for James and Kyle to munch on as they read up on their mark.

"Say. Kyle after all that talk the other day about how secretive the mission is, in the end, what we have is our usual, once again you have made something so simple sound so complicated. If this is the mission I don't even understand why would we even need SIS to get involved." James huffed as he munched on a piece of biscuit careful not to swear, especially in front of Ewart when Joshua is around. The last time that happened he almost got sent for a fifty round lap run around the campus as punishment if not for the timely intervention of Zara.

"Alright James. No need to get your knickers in a twist. How was I supposed to know the contents of the mission before it even started? I was just repeating whatever Mac said." Kyle replied defensively.

"Do not forget your training boys. Never. Ever. underestimate your target much less the mission no matter how much experience you have, or how good you think you are." Ewart warned cutting into the conversation, the last line directed solely at James. Who could only give Ewart a weak looking smile in return? God, he is terrified of that man.

"And it pays well to remember." a voice boomed as the door swung open. Everyone swerved their heads around to see McAfferty standing by the door.

The two cherubs scrambled to get up from their seats, standing to attention the moment they saw the head of Cherub come in with Terry Campbell the man from the tech department, in charge of Cherub's more exclusive equipment.

"I have spent last light in talks with the ethics committee on the possible risks of the mission. We have judged the mission to be too risky." MacAfferty announced.

"You can't bin the mission! We can handle the risks. Right, Kyle?" James protested he was more concerned about his homework more than the mission itself but hey both are important okay?

"Yeah… James is right we can handle it."

"If you would just let me finish. I was going to say the committee has decided to press on with the mission. With some extra conditions, the upside is our budget just tripled."

A sheet of paper was passed to the two Cherub members, it read.

Classified

New mission update

Due to the high risk of this mission, overall control for the operation will be handled directly by chairman Dr Terence McAfferty, with Zara Asker and Ewart Asker in charge of day-to-day operations.

TRAINING AND PRECAUTIONS

When the ethics committee approved the expansion of this mission they imposed strict conditions:

(1) Before being redeployed, all agents will be issued with protective equipment including body armour, easy-to-conceal knives, miniature stun guns and a small handgun for use in situations of extreme danger.

(2) The ethics committee has placed the mission on seven-day review status. This means that three members of the committee will review the progress of the mission every week. If they feel the situation has become too dangerous they will cancel the operation and order the agents back to campus.

(3) All agents are reminded of their right to refuse this mission or to withdraw at any time.

(4) Due to the high-risk nature of this mission, the Ethics committee requires Cherub to work with the Mi6 agent assigned to the same case for protection. Cherub agents are to cooperate with MI6 and not to interfere with their own investigation.

-This is the last and final warning to all participating Cherub operatives should they choose to back out. Due to the nature of the mission, pulling out would severely compromise the security and secrecy of Cherub and National security.

"How are we going to sneak past airport security with body armour and guns. Those won't blend in well unlike the mission with the mad dogs." James said.

It was Terry's turn to speak, "It is simple really, each you will be outfitted with 5 sets of the bulletproof clothes, preferably a hoodie, but keep in mind the climate there is quite warm. The guns will be the same ones you used during the mad dogs mission. MI6 sent over a couple of bags for you to conceal it, it will get through airport security no problem."

"From those previous comments, I think it is safe to assume that the two will not be backing out of the mission. We need to leave for London immediately."

It was a two-hour long car ride from the campus to London, James's joints were stiff when the driver dropped them off at Royal and General bank. James was happy to finally leave the car, the tense atmosphere was unbearable with MacAfferty in the front seat meant he had to be on his best behaviour at all times. Kyle had the good fortune of sleeping throughout the journey, while James could only content himself with a seemingly endless loop of songs he had on his playlist.

"A bank? Weren't we going to the SIS headquarters?" James questioned when he realised he was nowhere near the Thames and the iconic building that served as SIS's headquarters. MacAffery did not give a reply he simply strolled into the building, Kyle gave a clueless shrug as he followed close behind.

The front reception looked just like any ordinary bank. Customers sitting on chairs provided waiting for their turn, pensioners using the ATM machines. There was nothing to suggest anything peculiar about it other than being an average bank.

James wanted to ask Mac but his mouth was glued shut, maybe it was the tense atmosphere or Mac's serious expression. Either was enough to shut him up.

They walked one of the tellers, "I scheduled a 1 pm meeting with a Mrs Jones of Royal and General." Mac said.

"One moment please." The teller replied calmly, picking up a landline. A man with a suit came down came down soon after.

"Come this way please." the man said as he gestured for the group to follow. The first clue that this was not a normal bank only occurred the James when he spotted the black polymer figure of a P90 during the ride on the lift. Kyle seemed to have caught on as well, he wore a suspicious frown the moment he saw the gun strapped across the man's chest.

The lift came to a stop with a ding, "The first office to the right." The man pointed out, he did not exit the lift, following it back down. It was back to the normal bank office, small cubicles stretch out across the floor, the click-clack sound of the keyboards typing could be heard from most of the cubicles they walked past, the staff did not even give them a second glance.

They finally reached the large office, the sound of resonated MacAffery knocking on dark oak wood panel door resonated throughout the quiet office floor.

"Enter." was the curt reply.

A dark-skinned woman sat in front of a large desk, piles of papers surround her, in front of her stood a boy no more than 16, a large black gym bag and two black suitcases laid beside him. He did not even turn around to take a glance, more preoccupied with the lady in front of him.

She briefly looked up from the mess of papers, "Ah good they are here." she said, gestured for them to the seat. There was an ominous feeling in the room, like when the sheep being sent to the abattoir.

"I am Mrs Jones, you must be Dr MacAffery." Jones stood up, shaking Mac's hand.

"Boys, If you don't mind, the two of us need to have a private chat in the next room for a moment."

With the sound of the door closing, it was now Kyle and James alone with whoever the boy sitting beside him was. With Mac finally gone both Kyle and James could take the moment to breathe and take in their surroundings. The room was large but it felt empty, the wooden furnishing gave it somewhat of the feeling of depth, other than that the room felt bare and dull.

The silence was unbearable as the seconds ticked by, Kyle and James glanced at one another uncomfortably as they pondered about what to do.

"So. I take it you are from Cherub?" the boy suddenly spoke up. James and Kyle looked at each other as if either of them had grown an extra head. "You are in the lair of the beast now. I would suggest you leave before it is too late." the boy continued ominously. The duo stayed silent not knowing what to reply.

"The name's Alex Rider. MI6, you guys call us the SIS."

Necks snapped to Alex immediately the moment the word MI6 was uttered.

"You gotta be joking right? Cherub? MI6? What are you on?" James retorted as he tried to feign ignorance.

"Well I know you are from Cherub, a department formed during World war 2, part of MI5. File states the both of you as James Adams and Kyle Blueman both age 16. Both Performed with distinction. And both have a record of unruly behaviour." Alex replied, swivelling his chair around facing the two bewildered looking boys. For once he had the upper hand, the information. It was just too bad the victims are boys that have no clue how bad the spy business can get.

"How? Those are state secrets! only Cherub has access to those files." James's hand hovered over the waistband behind his back where a 4-inch swiss knife had been tucked in securely, Kyle did the same except he had brought along the mini pistol the two were supposed to refresh themselves with. The situation was not ideal, the two were stuck in a room with whoever this Alex guy at a bank that may or may not be a front for some illegal organisation.

"I would not recommend pulling out your weapons" Alex warned, "there is at least 20 armed agents outside that would not hesitate to pull the trigger even if you are just a child."

Kyle drew a deep breath and pulled out his pistol, "I will take my chances thank you." pointing it at Alex.


	4. Chapter 4

The gun did not faze Alex one bit, after all he had been through a gun pointed at him by a kid was the least of his concerns. Alex gave a sigh in mock defeat, "My credentials and Identity is in there." sliding over the wallet placed on the table.

James grabbed it and began rummaging through the leather wallet. If there was one thing to say about the boy, it would be that he was loaded, there were about 15 hundred pound notes, he was tempted to nick a few or take the whole lot before they leave. There were two cards, one was an oyster card, the other looked more like an identity card or security card.

Printed on the white card was "Level 10 clearance" in big bold black words and "Royal and General bank" printed on the side. Alex's picture printed on the far right corner.

"It's just some bloody bank security card, so don't try to be someone you're not you tart. Now, who are you really?" James scoffed

"Like I said I am MI6." Alex relishing every moment of this conversation. James was tempted to punch his identity out of him but men outside might get suspicious, not to mention where is Mac? Could he be in danger too?

The door suddenly flung open, the sudden movement startled Kyle who turned towards the direction of the door and fired. The sound was then followed by another louder, more crisp gunshot. True to Alex's word about 20 men rushed into the room, some wore business suits just like the workers outside armed with handguns and some wore full armoured vests, carrying MP7s or P90s.

It took a moment for both James and Kyle to process what had just happened. MccAfferty and Jones were still standing at the doorway, surrounded by security. The feeling of the gun going off was electrifying, much more so when you are firing on a live person. When Kyle processed what was going on, it was too late. The surprised look on both MccAffrey and Jones faces was gut-wrenching, he was in for now, he thought to himself.

For a few seconds no one moved a muscle or utter a word, Both James and Kyle were still calming themselves down. Jones was the first to take charge of the situation.

" Everyone else get out. The situation is under control." She ordered in a commanding tone. Everyone relaxed as the security personal holstered their weapons and left the room.

As the Adrenalin wore off, Kyle felt a sharp, stinging pain in the right side of his face, trickled down his cheek. The liquid was warm and sticky, to his touch. He was bleeding, staining his fingers red.

'Shit." Alex cursed when he realised what happened, his hand was still clutching on to to the smoking Glock 34. Kyle had been lucky when he panicked and fired, Alex had instinctively pulled out his own pistol and returned fire. The bullet narrowly missed, the jerking movement when Kyle fired moved his head to the side by a few centimetres, causing the bullet to strike the chair instead. A large hole in the chair and the wooden wall behind Kyle was all that was left of the 9mm bullet.

Alex sometimes hated his instincts at times. Sure it had saved him countless times, but it also caused a lot of griefs especially during social interactions, and now he almost took a friendly agent's head off, an underage one no less.

"Wait a moment," Alex whispered as he stumbled awkwardly towards Kyle. One of his hands fumbled around his coat pockets. "Let me see it." turning Kyle's head to inspect the wound. Alex gave a breath of relief, it was only a minor scar. "Sorry about that. You shot at my boss."

Kyle's face flushed red in embarrassment, "It's fine. I almost shot mine too." giving a weak smile in return. His stomach was churning, heartbeat increasing by the second. His mind was spinning trying to process what just happened.

"There. It should heal up in a day or two." Alex finishing up cleaning the wound, spraying smither's specially created disinfectant spray to speed up the recovery time.

By now Jones and MacAfferty had gotten over the shock and are sitting in front of the trio.

"Are you okay? Doctor?" Jones asked.

"I am fine thank you. It is a good thing it is Cherub policy to have the first bullet in every gun to be a blank."

"Maybe we should adopt this policy as well," Jones replied eying Alex who gave a nonchalant shrug. The two seemed to have an unspoken agreement to put this behind them and not mention it ever again.

"Well, I suppose explanations are in order. This Mrs Jones, Head of MI6 Special Operations branch and that is Agent Rider. The Agent that will be coming along for the mission," Mac explained. "Agent rider here was telling the truth when he told you he was MI6."

"SIS hires Child spies as well?" James's mind was starting to hurt, even after so many years of spy work, this was too much to take in at once.

"Not exactly, and 'Hired' is not the word I would put it. I much rather call it enforced family work." Alex replied, taking a big gulp of his glass full of brownish liquid.

"MI6 Special Operations is a branch of SIS, they call it the old guard as they kept the old MI6 name, they deal in some of the most dangerous groups and missions." Mac continued.

"Yeah. And I wonder who had to deal with them the most." Alex scoffed attracting the curious glances from Cherub. Who simply gave a shrug in return.

"Anyway… I think we have wasted more than enough time due to the debacle just now, our main concern is Atlas International, not each department's history. Jones cut in., desperate to stop the current subject and divert the attention away from Special Ops before Alex start spilling any more information. They might be both in charge of intelligence gathering, and belong from the same government, Both are still rivals to one other, both out to gain as much information about the other to gain an upper hand, or in exchange for favours from each other

"Right. Yes, we are here to discuss Atlas international. I am sure these two have several questions" Mac said.

"Good. Alex here has the most experience in dealing with them, and the most successful." Alex could not help but detect a faint hint of pride from Jones.

"Why is Atlas so feared?" Kyle asked softly, afraid to offend someone again.

"Well. For starters, they are one of the biggest megacorporations out there. Only some companies like nestle got them beat. They operate the biggest private military in the world. Each member has some sort of military or law enforcement background. They are also the best equipped. Depending on the rank and section, you can meet men wearing armour ranging from military plate carriers to the next gen EXO suits. Take my word for this, you do not want to get into a fight with one of them under any circumstances."

"What makes this mission so dangerous that it requires your help? This looks like what Cherub have been doing for years." James turns to ask.

"The problem most of all is location, Their headquarters is in Southeast Asia, Singapore. A former crown colony, it sits on the centre of one of the most important trade routes in the world. This is where they decided to settle. One of the main problems, of course, is that it is surrounded by water, and patrolled by a very zealous coast guard and navy. Due to the rampant pirate activities surrounding their sea.

In the case if you need to escape the authorities it will be very hard due to the small size of the island, there is only one major airport and two bridges to neighbouring Malaysia. The surrounding nations are grouped in a collective organisation called ASEAN or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, they function much like the EU and help each other if needed.

Atlas, of course, is very friendly to the governments of ASEAN. Which means If they are after you, your only safe haven is Australia, which as you know is a long way away, even then it will not be guaranteed refuge since Atlas runs one of its major operations there.

ASEAN will not cooperate with the British on matters about Atlas. Once you are there, you are on your own, on their home turf with almost no means of escape." Alex explained the seriousness of his voice sent chills down both Cherub's spines. James was almost regretting agreeing to the mission. But this is much more preferable than homework in his opinion.

Details and mission plans were quickly drawn up and hammered out, including ones few emergency evacuations should Atlas catch wind of their plans and they have to get the hell out quickly.

The mission would start 2 days before the mid-year holidays end. This left them with 2 weeks to prepare and get to know each other. It was decided beforehand to have Alex join James and Kyle in Cherub campus for the 2 weeks to better know each other and work together.

At first, Alex wasn't that enthusiastic about the arrangement, but a mixture of curiosity, his own personal feelings and a few hush words from Jones convinced him to go along with it. James and Kyle were the opposite of Alex, they wanted him to join them, partially to try and make up to him for what they just did and to also know more about him, possibly more about SIS, since they hardly ever worked with them and never so close.

Mac was the one who suggested the idea in the first place. He wanted to find out more about the special operations golden boy since they won't tell him anything, he would have to find out by himself, He also wanted to potentially recruit Alex into Cherub for some high-risk missions or to train the younger Cherubs.

Alex gathered his bags and proceed to the lift towards the carpark together with the Cherubs.

"Jones did not arrange transport to get you to the Campus did she?" Mac asked.

"No, she didn't I am to sort it out myself."

"If you like, you can join us!" Kyle offered, hopeful he would say yes, Mac nodded approvingly.

The lift door slid open, "It is okay thank you for the offer but I got my own transport."

"Whoa! Look at that car!" James exclaimed suddenly, pointing at a white, black strip Koenigsegg Agera RS parked in front of the lift lobby in front of their waiting Jaguar XJ.

"Glad that you think so too." Alex grinned wiping out a set of car keys. The car unlocked and growled to life as he pressed a set of buttons.

"How did you even afford such a car?" James astonished.

"Well... I would call it a gift, perks of the Job I would say, especially when you are good at it." Alex answered with a wink. "I already have the location of the campus so see you there!"

Before anyone else could ask another question, Alex had jumped into the car and sped out of the car park in a cloud of tire smoke and the growl of the V8 engine could still be heard through the car park even as it left.

"Well… That certainly was something." Mac said as he proceeded to their own car.

The ride back to the campus was quiet, James and Kyle were still processing what was happening when Mac suddenly spoke, "Kyle. I hope you know that today's events will not go unpunished. You were lucky it was a blank if it wasn't and it hit one of us. I think you would know the outcome for the both of you."

"Not to mention how Alex almost killed you. I mean Jesus. It was pure luck that the bullet only grazed your cheek." James added, huffing.

"Aww. James, I never knew you cared." Kyle cooed. Before a small punch was sent flying to his right shoulder.

"Can it the two of you. When we reach the campus you will receive your punishment." Mac warned, shutting the two boys up.

They were about 10 minutes away from campus when a familiar looking supercar flew right past them chased by an Audi R8 and a Jaguar F type. Followed by sight multiple BMWs and Audis with the iconic flashing blue lights and sirens together with a police helicopter circling the air.

"I can bet my arse that is Alex." James shook his head.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because that's what superspies do."

 **Still subject to change**

 **I know its been some time I had exams and projects to work on. I apologize for my tardiness.**

 **The story has actually progressed much further but I like to send it out by batches**


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